May 7, 1915

The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German u-boat off the coast of Ireland, about 14 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale. The ship sank in 18 minutes and though there were enough lifeboats aboard, the severity prevented them from being launched. Of the 1,959 passengers on board, 1,198 drowned, 128 of them U.S. citizens. The death toll shocked the world and proved the impetus for America to enter WWI. The Germans contended that they only fired because the ship was carrying munitions. In 2008 a diving team explored the wreck and found millions of U.S. made Remington bullets which would seem to support that theory.